Captain Simian & the Space Monkeys (1996)

Charlie, a NASA-trained chimp shot into orbit in the early 1960s, accidentally gets thrown beyond the solar system where an advanced alien race mistakes him for a representative of Earth's dominant species. He is given intelligence, the rank of Captain, a ship and a mission -- to defeat the evil Nebula, who seeks to absorb the universe into himself ("Check -- it's an ego thing"). Captain Simian, with some help from the Orbitron (the repository of the advanced alien race's science and wisdom), recruits a crew of monkeys (Gor, Shao Lin, Spydor and Splitzy) from Earth. They seem pretty happy about it all...until Rhesus 2, Nebula's "creation", shows up, firing his Brain-blaster with mindless glee.

Things do not get any better for the Space Monkeys so they take to the air, but their inexperience, and the fact that their ship is designed for humans, results in their initial defeat. It doesn't help when Gor breaks the Orbitron either! Simian sends the others back to earth via a wormhole, but they screw up and get lost in time and space. They return only moments later to rescue Simian from certain death and reveal that they were forced to re-live the '70s! Now, with their monkey-customized ship, operating as an experienced team, under a capable leader...they'll be lucky if they survive the episode!

Spydor beamitrons aboard an alien "coconut", which hatches, unleashing a vicious alien creature. As the creature comes into contact with each of the monkeys, it incorporates their DNA, becoming more and more ape-like, leading to a toenail-biting chase through the ship.

The crew lands on what appears to be Earth, but the planet is covered with jungle growth. They meet Lilith, the sole inhabitant, a charming and intelligent female monkey, who steals Simian's heart. While Simian believes he has come home, the others are suspicious and with good reason. Where is everybody? What's the deal with the mysterious Lilith? And why do they discover a huge statue of...Rhesus 2?

Intercepting a message between Nebula and Rhesus 2, the Space Monkeys head to a distant galaxy, investigating a mysterious planet where GLOP could be generated. The Space Monkeys meet the ancient Gryxlpyx, who claims to be the guardian of a sleeping giant who, according to legend, is actually dreaming the galaxy. Rhesus 2 arrives to make the giant "dream up" some GLOP and, in the ensuing battle, we discover the surprising truth of the legend.

Gor and Spydor are kidnaped by Apax, an inter-galactic fight promoter who wants Gor to be his next champion. But Gor, like Ferdinand the Bull, won't fight, to Apax's exasperation. While the rest of the crew arrives to the rescue, Apax uses a rare isotope he has perfected to turn Gor into a fighting monster, Gormongus! The good news: nothing can stop Gormongus! The bad news: nothing can stop Gormongus!

While escaping angry Blethorians (and the only thing to do when confronted with angry Blethorians is escape from them), the ship is damaged, leaking flux, the "glue" that holds the ship together. As the Primate Avenger comes apart, so does the crew: Simian and Shao Lin explore a strange, new planet in search of new flux and must survive an encounter with a humongous Sand Monster; Spydor and Gor have a falling out; and worst of all, the bickering Splitzy and Dr. Splitz find a way to separate into two monkeys. The Space Monkeys better get it together before the ship blows apart!

The Space Monkeys finally find some bananas, or did these bananas find them? The giant alien bananas "eat you up and spit you out." Spydor, Splitzy and Gor are captured and replaced with efficiency-obsessed clones. Simian and Shao Lin narrowly escape and must not only find a way to release the crew and shut down the huge intergalactic "clean-up" corporation that "recruited" them, but there's still all that paperwork!

Captain Simian receives an old coded message from NASA and takes the Primate Avenger in search of the decoder that was on board his original capsule. They are drawn to a seemingly lifeless metal junkyard planet by a magnetic anomaly, but the planet is really a machine -- Matrix, who wants to "de-construct and assimilate" the monkeys. As Matrix learns from the monkeys, he becomes alive. The crew, with the help of Gormongus, defeats the living machine and escapes the hold of the magnetic anomaly. The message from Earth? We're not telling!

Splitzy repairs the cerebrotron and gives Gor increased intelligence. Meanwhile, Rhesus 2 builds the ultimate robot, Lobiathan, and attacks a mining colony. The Space Monkeys need Gor's strength to defeat the robot and save the universe, but Gor may have become too smart for their own good!

While trying to stop Rhesus 2 from stealing gravitons from a cosmic storm, Simian gets a glimpse into another universe, where he encounters Vog, a one-dimensional alien. Back on the ship, everyone thinks Simian has gone coconuts when he claims to keep seeing the invisible alien. As Rhesus 2 attacks, Shao Lin must decide whether Simian is capable of commanding the ship.

Rhesus 2 tricks the crew into replacing their Holo-boon generator with one he can control. The new Holo-boons, led by the evil Holo-boon 3462/83B, organize a fascist takeover of the ship. The prancing 3462/83B proves disloyal even to Rhesus 2 and seems invincible. It all comes down to the Captain's desperate plan, involving timing, precision, cunning and Muzak!

Running from a space shark and nearly out of fuel, the Space Monkeys ride a meteor through a wormhole. On the other side, they discover that the meteor is about to hit a planet. They try to warn the alien-wary inhabitants, but the universal translator is broken! Despite repeated attempts to communicate, they cannot convince the inhabitants of their peaceful intentions. So, to save the paranoid planet...they invade! It's the attack of the Alien Space Monkeys!

Rhesus 2 plants a psycho-neutron annihilator bomb on the Primate Avenger, probably the worst kind of neutron annihilator there is! The bomb can destroy all life forms, and projects illusions to protect itself from being discovered. The monkeys must conquer monsters drawn from their own deepest fears if they are to find the bomb, save the ship and get back to that game of Holo-Chess!

Spydor embroils the Space Monkeys in a brawl between a mysterious and charismatic alien space pirate, Lago Thrix, and the cyberpunk Blackhole Gang. Simian reluctantly grants Lago passage to his home world, and on the journey, Lago impresses Dr. Splitz, Spydor and Shao Lin with his talents, while Splitzy, Gor and Simian are jealous. What exactly are Lago's talents (did he have a tail when we first saw him?) and is he somehow linked to Rhesus 2 and Nebula?

The Space Monkeys land on a planet where humans are primitive and warlike (imagine the chances of that!) and two stranded alien creatures are undergoing a rite of passage. While one of the young aliens, Larnus, befriends the monkeys, his brother, Tronus, joins with the humans to capture them. As the monkeys seem outnumbered, the adult aliens arrive to pass judgment on their young and reveal a world where evolution doesn't quite work the way you might expect.

The Space Monkeys take a "shortcut" through a wormhole and get caught in a sub-space speed trap. The Primate Avenger is towed to an asteroid where the monkeys stand trial -- all except Shao Lin, who refuses to leave the ship. It's a good thing too, because the judge turns out to be none other than Apax, the intergalactic con-artist, who throws them into prison where deadly Rolpenoids stand guard. Now it's up to Shao Lin to break her friends out of jail and bring Apax to real justice.

Searching for a "place to hang", the Space Monkeys explore a blue jungle planet. Meanwhile, a microscopic ship of alien Kwellian pioneers is also looking for a home, and they too find the perfect place to settle... Spydor's rear end! Simian and the others shrink down to Kwellian size to convince the intruders to go elsewhere; but while they battle static cling, fleas and angry aliens, Rhesus 2 arrives and kidnaps Spydor to pluck his brain. Will the Space Monkeys be able to save Spydor's brain?? (not to mention his... well, we won't mention it.)

Having sustained damage battling a Dunconian Destroyer, the crew lands on the planet Maltese. The Maltesian motto is "trust no one" and with good reason: Gor returns from a mysterious outing with Spydor during which the Orbitron was stolen from them. Worse, the broken Orb is now spouting a binary code that could be disastrous in the wrong hands. So the crew follows the Orbitron's trail through a noirish world of alien gangsters and molls where nothing is what it seems. Not even some monkeys....

The Primate Avenger is captured by the mysterious Glyph, a masked entity with powerful robots and weapons. The Glyph has a matter to settle with Nebula and asks the Space Monkeys to help him. The Space Monkeys trick Rhesus 2 into leading them to Nebula, but the Glyph's weapon blasts Rhesus 2 into several large chunks. Dr. Splitz must now reconfigure Rhesus 2 to find the secret of Nebula's whereabouts. But, in the final battle, with the Space Monkeys caught in the middle, we discover that the Glyph has a secret of his own.

The Primate Avenger is attacked by a giant floating botanical garden. The alien plants turn the monkeys' own jungle against them and kidnap Gor to be their gardener. Dr. Splitz shoots the plants with a Psycho-Neural Interceptor to sever their vege-telepathic link, but the plants shoot the beam back and it causes Simian and Shao Lin to switch minds! How will the monkeys escape the wrath of the angry plants, fight intelligent tumbleweeds, Venus fly traps and giant aphids and free Gor? And what if Simian or Shao Lin have to go to the ba--...! Never mind.

What the Space Monkeys need are a few good androids to take over for them in defending the universe. But all Dr. Splitz can do is make a friend for Gor out of twine and paper clips: a cute little orangutan android named Isaac. When the crew goes in search of more advanced machines on Cyber 1, the monkeys discover the planet is run by the former computer, Matrix, who believes he has created life -- a whole civilization of robots. Will the monkeys escape this cybernetic nightmare... and is Isaac more monkey or machine??

Responding to a gravitational disturbance in the Caelin system, the Primate Avenger is shot down and sinks to the bottom of the vast pink ocean covering the planet. But the monkeys don't drown for a very peculiar reason. Now these underwater monkeys must stop the two warring factions on the planet before they destroy their own world. That is, if they can survive a totally wild battle on surfboards, a sea quake and the molten lava racing for the downed Primate Avenger. Cow-a-monkey-bunga, dude!

Nebula has figured out how to recreate the planet of the " ", and get his hands on the GLOP generator. The Space Monkeys rush to the scene, but the situation gets critical when Shao Lin falls gravely ill. Mandrax, a mysterious mandrill with unimaginable powers, shows up and intervenes before the Space Monkeys can retrieve the generator. But is he a good monkey or a bad one?

Nebula has the GLOP generator, now why doesn't he use it? A component is missing -- something Nebula needs from the Primate Avenger. Attacked by the ganglia, the Space Monkeys are snared in Rhesus' energy net. Simian, oddly, turns monkey tail and flees. The monkeys are captured by Rhesus 2 and Nebula and are about to be tortured. Will they be saved by their captain, or is Simian a coward? No? Then why is he relaxing in a jungle paradise while his crew faces unimaginable awfulness??

Simian is stranded on a distant planet, lost in a world of illusion, while Nebula tightens the noose around the other Space Monkeys. A visit from the mysterious mandrill Mandrax clears his mind, but will Captain Simian be too late to save his crew? And will the climactic battle with Nebula keep the intergalactic madman from using the final component he needs to destroy the universe? As a matter of fact -- NO! But that might not be a bad thing...